How Do We Know The Dates Of Things That Happened Before The Modern Calendar Started?
| Updated: 10 Feb 2026
How do we know that the Battle of Hastings happened in 1066 when the Gregorian calendar didn't start until 1582?
Question:
How do we know that the Battle of Hastings happened in 1066 when the Gregorian calendar didn't start until the 1500s?
Adrian, Westminster
Answer:
**DEFINITIVE**
Name: Tom, Leeds
Qualification: history teacher
Answer: We know because there's enough evidence that it happened in 1066, like the Doomsday Book. It's written on the Bayeux Tapestry. It was called the Julian calendar, where the only difference from the Gregorian calendar is a couple of days every hundred years.